Alcohol blamed for EC crime

While the Eastern Cape has seen an increase in murder, house robberies and hijacking cases, there was some good news for Mthatha where murders decreased by 4.1%.

However, the news was not so good for East London, where the murder rate increased by 33.3% in the 2015-16 reporting period.

The police’s latest crime statistics show that murders in the East London clusters increased from 141 in the 2014-15 reporting period to 188.

Despite the slight decrease, Mthatha remains the murder capital of the province with 486 cases, slightly down on the 507 reported in the 2014-15 financial year.

The 2015-16 Eastern Cape crime figures were revealed by safety and liaison MEC Weziwe Tikana and provincial police commissioner Lieutenant-General Liziwe Ntshinga at a crime statistics presentation in Mthatha on Saturday.

The Eastern Cape saw a general increase in the number of murders from the previous period to 3649 from 3321.

This means the Eastern Cape has overtaken the Western Cape as the province with the highest murder rate in the country.

Of the 22 policing clusters in the province, 16 recorded an increase in murders, just five decreased and only one remained the same.

Ntshinga said the release of crime statistics reflected badly on social behaviour and she vowed that police would continue to analyse and review operational strategies to ensure “that we stay ahead of criminals”.

Tikana said the general increase in various crimes could largely be attributed to alcohol abuse.

“The non-compliance of taverns with the Liquor Act, specifically operating hours and selling of liquor to underage children and drunk patrons, will continue to be scrutinised and prioritised during the police operations,” she said.

Ntshinga said intelligence-driven operational plans and tactics had already been put in place to deal with crimes such as murder, attempted murder, hijackings and robbery at residential places, all of which showed an increase.

These plans included:

lHigh police visibility at identified hot spots;

lUndercover operations;

lEnhancing tracking and tracing teams to ensure that wanted suspects are arrested;

lIncreasing the capability of task teams to address gangsterism and robberies;

lContinued compliance checks on firearms, liquor and second hand goods premises; and

lEducation awareness campaigns for target groups.

Tikana welcomed decreases in four crime categories – contact crimes were down by 2%, contact related crimes by 5.2%, property related crimes by 4.6% and other serious crime by 5.2%.

However, she expressed concern that commercial crime had increased by 11%.

“The increase of incidents of card cloning, fictitious advertisements, internet theft and the abuse of company business credit cards, also played a role,” said Tikana.

“The reduction of aggravated robberies remains a focus area. Specific crimes such as car jacking increased by 187 cases, truck jacking by 20 cases, robbery of cash-in-transit by nine and robbery at residential premises with a significant 243 cases.”

Tikana said car jacking and robbery at residential homes had “a huge negative impact on the personal safety of people”.

“These crimes are listed as the crimes that people fear the most. I have been assured that the plans have been put in place to deal with these crimes,” she said.

The MEC said fighting crime should be everybody’s business.

“Communities must take centre stage, not by taking the law into their own hands, but by assisting the police with helpful information, taking responsible decisions with respect to their personal safety and becoming involved in structures aimed at fighting crime and enhancing the moral rectitude of the people,” said Tikana.

The latest stats showed the murder rate for various clusters around the province to be:

lMdantsane: 141 murders, the same as recorded in the 2014-15 financial year;

lMount Fletcher: 120 murders, up from 27 the previous year (attributed to additional police stations falling under Mount Fletcher);

lKing William’s Town: 131 to 136;

lCofimvaba rose from 131 to 241; and

lPort Alfred from 20 to 38.

The Butterworth cluster recorded the second highest number of murders after Mthatha with 335 cases; followed by Mount Road in Port Elizabeth with 317; Motherwell with 308; Mount Ayliff (EmaXesibeni) at 285; Cofimvaba at 241 and Port St Johns at 211.

Meanwhile robberies at residential premises increased by 13.4% with 2054 cases report in the period under review – the highest number since 2006.

Other crimes which have seen notable increases in many clusters include car jackings and truck hijackings while cases of arson decreased by 13% and recorded the lowest figure since 2006. — lulamilef@dispatch.co.za